Stormpath gives companies an easier way to authenticate users, with $8.2M

The idea of a “plug and play” security tool may seem a bit paradoxical, but one company doesn’t think so. Stormpath, an authentication app that just got $8.2 million in its first round of funding today, wants you to “plug in” its login tool, and let it do all the work as your company’s first line of defense.

The funding was led by New Enterprise Associates and Pelion Venture Partners, with participation from Flybridge Capital Partners.

The company built a product that allows cloud service providers to “offload” the authentication process to StormPath. Authenticating a user is the same as identifying them — giving them a place to login and prove they are who they say they are. This process, however, can be bulky and is one of the most important security measures a company can take today. Stormpath says it can do the job better than cloud service companies can; it uses an application programming interface that developers at cloud service providers can just plug into their existing products.

Companies like Stormpath may actually make a lot of sense. As a business-owner, you might have the desire to control your company’s security landscape completely on your own. But employing a dedicated company that is putting all of its resources into that one security product might actually make it stronger and more reliable.

Stormpath was founded in 2011 and is based in San Mateo, Calif. Benchmark Capital also previously invested in the company.